A former headmaster of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia, Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, has been named a suspect in a sexual abuse investigation and detained by police. Sumar, known to students as Abah, previously led the Abul Barokat boarding school on the island of Lombok.
Police reopened the case after a BBC World Service report revealed accusations of sexual abuse against him. The report documented how former students had gathered evidence to bring the allegations to authorities. Following the BBC investigation, 12 more former students provided testimony to police.
Former students Ziadatur Rahmah (Zia) and Sukma Rohana Fajar were central to the BBC Eye investigation. Zia had confided in a former classmate, Yusron Azzahidi, about an alleged sexual assault when she was 17. Yusron then compiled a seven-page document detailing allegations, which was given to representatives of Nahdlatul Wathan Diniyah Islamiyah (NWDI), the organisation that ran the school.
The students claim they were pressured to withdraw their accusations. Abah denied all allegations at a news conference, though he did not deny the voice in recorded calls was his, stating they were not confessions. Sukma alleged she was forced to sign a document stating her claims were lies. Abah has resigned from the school and stated he will respect the legal process.